Yageo Corp (國巨), one of the world’s top three suppliers of passive components, yesterday said it is to launch a tender offer to fully acquire Japan’s Shibaura Electronics Co for up to ￥65.57 billion (US$429.37 million), with an aim to expand its sensor business.
The tender offer would be a crucial step for the company to expand its sensor business, Yageo said.
Shibaura Electronics is the world’s largest supplier of thermistors, with a market share of 13 percent, research conducted in 2022 by the Japanese firm showed.
Photo: CNA
If a deal goes ahead, it would be the second acquisition of a sensor business since Yageo purchased France-based Schneider Electric’s sensor unit in November 2023 for about 723 million euros (US$753.1 million at the currect exchange rate) as part of efforts to transform itself into a supplier of premium passive components.
Sensor business accounts for a small part of Yageo’s revenue, making up 9 percent in the third quarter of last year.
Thermistors are temperature-dependent resistors. Shibaura Electronics’ products are used in a wide variety of applications from vehicles, home appliances and medical devices to industrial equipment, the company’s Web site showed.
Yageo offered to buy Shibaura Electronics shares at ￥4,300 each, representing a 37 percent premium compared with the company’s share price of ￥3,141 on Tuesday in Tokyo, the company said in a statement.
The public tender offer would begin on May 7 through its wholly owned Japanese subsidiary, Yageo Electronics Japan, it said.
In the meantime, the firm would seek regulatory approval, it added.
Yageo expects to wrap up the deal in the third quarter of this year, it said in a separate statement submitted to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
It hopes to acquire all 15.25 million common shares of Shibaura Electronics, but the tender offer would succeed if it meets the minimum acquisition number of 7.62 million shares, or approximately 50 percent of the planned acquisition, the statement said.
Shibaura Electronics has 4,800 employees worldwide, with annual revenue of ￥32 billion, the statement said.
Yageo hires more than 40,000 workers globally with annual revenue topping US$4 billion as a result of multiple merger-and-acquisition agreements.
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